Students at South Dakota’s six regent universities have enjoyed a 5-year tuition freeze. Whether that freeze continues into the next academic year is not certain.
The S.D. Board of Regents determines if a tuition freeze is a priority and worth presenting to the Legislative session which will run from Jan. 14 through March 10.
The Board of Regents will present their budget to the Legislature this coming January. The Legislature will determine if what of that budget will be included in the the state’s budget and then the governor chooses to adopt or not adopt that budget plan. After approval it will go through to appropriations, the House and Senate and then finally approved by Gov. Noem or her successor if she becomes a member of President Donald Trump’s cabinet.
Gov. Noem did give her budget address on Tuesday and though she proposed cutting $2 million from the Board of Regents budget but there was no talk regarding a tuition freeze for the six regent universities.
As seeking a higher education is a goal of many students across the country, an affordable education is one component many students use as a key deciding factor in which institution they attend.
“It is always my goal to keep tuition as affordable as possible for students while still ensuring they receive an excellent education,” Students’ Association Vice President Hayden Bentz, said. “This value proposition was a large reason why I attended, SDSU, as I would imagine it was for many other Jackrabbits.”
Though it is not yet known if there will be another tuition freeze for the 2025-2026 academic year, President Barry Dunn, Provost Dennis Hedge and Vice President of Finance & Budget Michael Holbeck are working on SDSU’s budget which will be presented by President Dunn to the Joint Committee of Appropriations at the state Legislature during the 2025 session.
“That will occur in January and that is a routine year over year,” Hedge said. “That’s basically an opportunity for all university presidents and the executive director of the Board of Regents to basically lay out an overview of the status or state of the universities and the system. To share what the university is doing in order to maintain affordability, continue to drive opportunity, and to continue to drive high-level academic quality across all the universities in the programs.”
When evaluating the university’s financial stability and budget, there are multiple conversations and discussions with the various colleges. According to Hedge, student credit hours, specific areas of growth and areas of need across the university, and overall enrollment are also looked at when considering the resources the university has and areas of need for improvement and growth.
The first-time undergraduate students rate increasing over the years is an impactful contributor to financial sustainability. As the Board of Regents shared in October, the system had a 4.3% increase in first-time freshman. SDSU alone had its largest class in history with the first-year student class at a total of 2,449 which was 7.6% increase from last year’s class.
“Maintaining enrollment is probably the biggest thing I look at,” Holbeck said in regards to beginning the budgeting process. “Making sure that we’re there and what makes someone come here. It’s the quality, it’s the experience, it’s the marketing, the admissions counselors, the faculty, the research, it is all those things. I look at the monitoring enrollment and making sure that we’re investing and if we have it go down or now it’s going up, we are adjusting to that.”
The Legislature session beginning in January will then determine what will happen regarding if there will or will not be another year of tuition freezes across the South Dakota public universities. Nonetheless, SDSU plans to strive toward providing a high education and academic growth while maintaining an affordable cost Hedge said.
“It’s important that everything gets balanced in a very good way so that we remain a very good, assessable option for students,” Hedge said. “But at the same time, we have the tools, the resources, the high-quality faculty and staff to make sure that you are getting a great education so that when you graduate you can compete with anybody with the exact same degree.”
